Apparatus for cleaning ships&#39; bottoms



J. OVERALL Sept. 25, 1923.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING SHIPS BOTTOMS Ei 28. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 JohnOVERALL w 5 8 6 W T M L L A R E V O .J.

Sept. 25, 1923.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING SHIPS BOTTOMS John OVERALL INVENTOR;

' Mtovney Sept; .25 1923.

. 11,468,646 J. OVERALL APPARATUS FOR CLEANING SHIPS BOTTOMS Filed Nov.2 1922 Jhn OVERALL shown roosting -ro ie.

Patented Sept. 25, T9230 JC-HN ovEnaL'L, or Daeaaem m, tines srnnnr, NEWSOUTH warns, AUSTRALIA.

" imitates ron onnanrne sn rs terror/is.

Application filed'Noveinber 2a, 1922. Serial No. 603,731.

To all whoiiznit may concern:

Be it known that I, JonN OVERALL, a subject of Great Britain, residingat .'St. GCOIQ'GS Crescent, Drunnnoyne, near Sydney, in the' State ofNew South lVales, Commonwealth of Australia haye invented new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for (leaning Ships Bottoms, of whi-chthefollowing 1s a specification;

'This invention relates to apparatus for cleaning ships -bottoniswhereby the operation is carried out whilst the ship is waterborne,thereby obviating the necessity of dry docking her for the purpose.Referring to'the accompanying sheets of planatory drawingse L eievati onof a "ship applied; Fig. 2 Fig; 3 Fig. i

to which the invention is is a similar plan view and I a transversesection of the vessel. is aperspective View of the reclp gear foroperatlng V the working ig. 5 a plan View of thebow and stern b'oon'iupon which is mounted the traversing gearof the working-rope fair-leads.

Fig. 61saperspect1ve View showlng the scraper device together with meansfor varying the Vertical position of the working rope.

-Y"Fig."7 is a longitudinal sectionotthe scraper device.

Fig.8 is a top plan'thereof. v i I l8'representsthe ships hull and 14:is the working rope to which the scrapers 15 are attached by Ineans'ofthe clamps 16am].

bridles 17.3 The working rope 14- is rove through the pulleys 18-'slidingly attached by thesle eves19 to the booms 20, the latter beingsecured on the bow and stern of the ship 13 by suitable clamps or suchlike devices 21and at the ends secured by stays 22 attached to the hullof the ship. The .free

7 ends23 of the working rope 14 are secured to and wound roundbarrels24ro tatably operated by power appliances andgprovided withratchetdocking mechanism 25. These guides 27 on the rocker arm 28. Thislatter is journalled at 29 on a foundation 30 on a punt 31 secured tothe ship, r it may be mounted upon the ship itself. 31 is the enginefor-operating the reciprocating; gear,

32 is a connecting rod-journalled at the lower end of the rocker arm 28and adapted by its ig. 1 is-a diagrannnatical View ofthe side.

roc ier arm are journalied a pair 01" pu leys wound on to eitherot theaforesaid barrels as required." T he engagement oi the grooi'ed discs 36witlrthedriving disc isobtainod by causing the bed plate 26 to slide inhorizontal. plane as required, within the gui 27. This movement isobtainedby operating the lever 31, journalled at 38 on the rocking arm28 and niechanlc'ally attached to the bed plate 26 by the pin 39. theto-andas movement of the lever 37, eithergroomd disc 36 iscausedtoengagcseparately with the driving grooved-disc 35; The operatinghandles 40 are employed, if needbe, to draw in slack should it occur inthe rope 14:.

- The scrapers are each p reterabl formed of four members securedtogether by shackles all which permit of ample freedom of play of suchmembers, enablingthem', at all times,

to lie "close to the surface ofthe'hull 13, when in operation. Thescraper blades d2 arc se cured toa llF211l'1G i-.3 shaped preferably toform a truncated cone ateach end of the device. The forward end eel oieach scraper blade/l2 is sloped downwards to enable it to ride overobstructions such as the lap of a plategwhenjin operation. are runners,the rubbingaccept which are raised slightly above the leyel otthescraper blades 42 to prevent the latter from coming: into contactwith "the paint on;thc 'ships hull and so in- These runners tapereddownur it. w rds as fat 46 where they approach the scraper blades 42.For clearness of. illustration-'the =centrally placed runners are :notshown in'lfig; 6. 4:7 "are brushes adapted to lemme: the materialloosened by t-l ie 'scra ier blades 42. The scraper 15 is attached tothe working rope i l by means of the shackles 16 and bridles 1.7. Theseshackles are so constructed that they may be coupled and uncoupledreadily to permit of the positioning of the scrap mgr apparatus on theworking rope 14. h facility. The frames 43 are constructed of somebuoyant material to ensure that the scraper blades 42 are kept up to thesurface of the hull when at work by such buoyant property, and 48 arefloats employed to impart greater buoyancy when such is re quired. i

i The sleeves 19 are adapted to be slidingly moved along the booms 20 bymeans of the controlling lines 49 rove through the pulleys 50 thusenabling the load of the Working rope 14 to be altered in horizontalplane at will. The guideblocks 51 are interposedat suitable distancesapart and through these the Working rope'14 .isrove. These guide blocks51 are adapted to be secured by vertically disposed guy ropes 52to thevessel 13 and by them they areraised and lowered to hold the Workingrope 14 in the required horizontal position when in operation.

In carrying out the invention the Working rope 14 is operated by somesource'of power positioned either on a floating structure secured totheside of the vessel to be cleaned, or it may be mounted upon the deck ofthe vessel itself. In the drawings it is shown positioned upon a puntsecured along side the vessel. The rope 14 is rove through the severalfair-lead pulleys as illustrated and described and is reciprocated tomake arranged for the operation of the scrapers 15. The correspondingbarrel automatically unWinds a similar length of its coiled rope.

Upon this operation being completed the ratchet mechanism25 secures thebarrels, 24 in position. Reciprocating motio'n'is again imparted to theWorking rope 14 until a 1 fresh portion of the ships surface has beencleaned. The operation above described is repeated until the Whole ofthe surface "in the run of the rope is cleaned. The latter is then movedin vertical plane to take up a. fresh working-position. This is donegbyhauling on, or slackening up, the lines'52 controlling the guide blocks51. By this means the working rope 14 is movedeither up or-dovvninrelation to the. hull as required, and so a fresh working runisfprovided'for it. In making these adjustments the fair-lead pulleys 18on the sliding collars l quired.

19on the booms 20. are adjusted to ensure that the workingrope'operates' in correct line, accurateadjustment being readilyobtained by means of the lines 49.]

In operation I may attachone or more scrapers to theWorking'rope,depending on the Working conditions or on the condition ofthe foulness of the hull. r a By these means the scraper orbrush 61 isguided to traverse the required surface at will. a r

I clai1n:m i r i V 1. Apparatusfor cleansingships bottoms comprising aWorking. rope, scraping de.-.

vices attached to such' rope, means'for imparting reciprocating motionto the said rope, means for adjusting its Working'position-both inhorizontal and vertical. plane in relation to the hull of the vessel,and means for advancing orretiring the position ofthe scrapers relativeto the cleaned portion of the hull of the vessel as theiwork proceeds.

.2. Apparatus for the purpose specified comprising a Working rope towhich a scrap- .ing device is attached, means for impartingreciprocating motionto such rope, means for Winding-1n e ther end of therope to advance or retire 1t andthe scraplng device attached thereto asthe Work proceeds, and means for altering the position ofthe rope'both'in horizontal and vertical plane tocause the scraping device totraversethe surface of the hull during'the operation; Y i V 3. In apparatus as.described means for imparting a reciprocating motion to the orking ropeconsisting. of Winding barrels and a JOUIIIZtllGCl member oscillated'bysuitable poWer, a pair of fair-lead pulleys situ- 1 ated at oneendoftheymember over which the Working rope is lead to" the barrels, a

bed plate at the other end of the member upon which the Working ropebarrels and frictiongear are journalled, such bedplate being adapted tobe slidingly moved at will in horizontal plane .yvithinuts guides to.cause either of" the friction pulleys ito en-' gage individually-Withdriving friction pulley to Wind in the workmgrope as re in; presence oftWo Witnesses.

Witnesses: V A. G.'GOODI N,

N. OVERALL.

In testimony hereof I afiix my signature JOHN OVERALL. Y i

